Finally, Airborne and Ready to Soar

Textron's earnings have a nice tailwind, propelled by strong demand for the firm's helicopters and business jets.

ITS BACKLOG ALONE PROVIDES a lot of thrust for Textron shares. With customers plunking down $250,000 deposits for business jets that won't arrive until 2010, the aircraft maker doesn't have to do much more than deliver those orders to lift its profits over the next five years.

Since the king of go-go era conglomerates began narrowing its focus to jets and helicopters under chief executive Lewis Campbell, demand for flying machines has gone Textron's way. Business folk around the world want the company's thrifty midsize...